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PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF LANGUAGE 

GEORGE C. BRANDENBURG 

Purdue University, Lafayette, hid. 

(Reprint from The Journal of Educational Psychology, Vol. IX, No. (>, June, 1918) 

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LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 







PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF LANGUAGE 

GEORGE C. BRANDENBURG 

Purdue Universiiy, Lafayette^ Ind. 

Purpose and Method 

Purpose. The investigation discussed in this article was under- 
taken for the purpose of contributing some data upon the question 
of the relation of language to general intelligence. (It is hoped that 
the material presented may aid in a small degree in answering the 
following questions: What is the relation between the extent of a 
pupil's vocabulary and his scholastic attainments? ) What correla- 
tion exists between accuracy and precision in the knowledge and 
use of words, and vocabulary range? What are the chief factors 
in the acquisition and use of words? To what extent does present- 
day school room practice facilitate the pupil's linguistic develop- 
ment? 

Method. From a series of preliminary investigations it was de- 
cided that the following principles were valid for a vocabulary test: 
(1) The best test as to whether a word is sufficiently well known 
by a pupil to be credited to him is his ability to use it correctly in 
a sentence. (2) The range of vocabulary varies so much within 
any group that a pupil must be tested upon approximately the entire 
list of words used, and this list must range from the most simple 
to the most difficult. (3) The list of test words should be short 
enough to be completed by the average pupil at one sitting of thirty 
or forty minutes. Accordingly the final test was arranged contain- 
ing 200 words, one for every 140 in Webster's Academic Dictionary. 
The words were selected at equal intervals throughout the dic- 
tionary. The test was printed in the form of a four page folder, 
the words being arranged as nearly as possible in order of difficulty, 
and each pupil was furnished with a copy. The test was given to 
2000 pupils of 68 different classes from the second to the twelfth 
grades, in 16 schools of six different school systems located in Wis- 
consin, Iowa, Missouri and Colorado. The places in which the 
tests were given vary in size and character from an agricultural 
town of 1200 people to a small modem city of 30,000. The author 
supervised personally the giving of 800 of the tests; the remainder 
were given under the direction of the various principals of these 
schools. The tests were all given during the month of May so 
that the results show the rankings and averages of the various 

(313) 



314 THE JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

grades at the end of the school year. The instructions to the pupils 
which were placed at the top of the first page of the folder were as 
follows: "In the blank space after each word that you know, write 
a sentence using the word correctly. Place a cross before each 
word that you do not know. For seventh grade pupils and above 
omit the first 25 words. " On the last page of the folder were spaces 
for the pupils' grades in English, manual training, oral expression 
and average scholarship, with a request that these grades be sup- 
plied by the teacher. 

With respect to scoring results any such test is, to a certain ex- 
tent, defective, since it is not always possible to decide from a 
pupil's use of a word in a sentence whether he knows the word or 
not. The principle which was followed in grading the papers was 
that the attempted use of a word is an indication in itself that the 
word is known, and unless the use in the sentence was such as to 
indicate that it was not known, the pupil was given credit for it. 

Grade Averages and Variations in Vocabulary 

In a study somewhat similar to the present one Kirkpatrick (7) 
attempted to find the average size of the vocabulary for each grade, 
and, while the method used was different, the results did not differ 
materially from those found here. His averages were as follows: 
Grade II, 4480; Grade III, 6620; Grade IV, 7020; Grade V, 7860; 
Grade VI, 8700; Grade VII, 10660; Grade VIII, 12000. Comparing 
these results with those in Table I, it will be seen that the increase 
in size of vocabulary from year to year appears much more uniform 
here than Kirkpatrick foiind it to be. The averages for Grades II 
and III 'and for those above the eighth in Table I cannot be regarded 
as reliable on account of the small number of pupils tested. It 
will be noted that the average of the three tenth grades tested is 
larger than either the eleventh or twelfth grade average. No ex- 
planation of this can be offered except that in the case of two 
of the tenth grades the principals remarked that they were 
unusually strong classes. The average gain from year to year for 
Grades II to VIII is approximately 1400 words. It appears that 
the gain in the seventh grade is greater than that for any other 
year, being 371 above the average. This is seen to be the case 
also in Kirkpatrick's results, disregarding Grades II and III which 
are admittedly unreliable. It was found by Dr. Jones, in a study 
of pupils' compositions that the greatest gain in the number of words 



PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF LANGUAGE 315 

used by pupils of one grade over those of the preceding grade was 
in the seventh grade. It is quite Hkely that this unusual increase 
in linguistic ability in this grade is due to the fact that a large number 
of dull pupils drop out of school at the end of the sixth year. This 

TABLE I 
Average Size of Vocabulary for the Various Grades as Determined by All the Tests 

Which Were Completed 
Av. Gain over 

No. of No. of vocab- pre- A. D. of Per cent 

Grade classes pupils ulary ceding year classes deviation 
II 1 22 4000 

III 3 78 5429 1429 453 6 5 

IV 8 228 6887 1458 453 6 5 
V 10 245 8207 1320 717 8 7 

VI 13 378 9613 1406 754 7 8 

VII 11 300 11445 1833 581 5.0 

VIII 10 255 12819 1374 779 6 

IX 3 72 13504 685 

X 3 71 15340 1736 

XI 3 71 13974 ■ 

XII 3 41 14975 
A. D., average deviation. 

would seem to explain the fact that there is a smaller percentage of 
variation among seventh grades than among the classes of any other 
grade. Some rather surprising facts are discovered when we com- 
pare the grades of different schools: The highest fourth grade had 
an average vocabulary of 8806, being larger than the average of the 
fifth grades and almost as large as the average of the sixth. The 
best eighth grade with a vocabulary of 14218 apparently had a 
better knowledge and command of words than the poorest senior 
high school class, and almost as good as the average of the three 
senior classes. These cases are typical of the overlapping in vocab- 
ulary ability throughout. In a later section dealing with the causes 
of individual variation in vocabulary an attempt will be made to 
explain these variations in grade averages, since whatever factors 
operate to cause individual differences would also tend to cause 
differences between grades. 

Averages for Boys and Girls 
The differences between boys and girls in the matter of vocabulary 
do not appear to be great as will be seen from the following table, 
and not uniformly in favor of either. 



316 



THE JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 







TABLE II 






Grade 


Boys 


Average 


Girls 


Average 


III 


38 


5527 


40 


5372 


IV 


126 


6546 


102 


7308 


V 


114 


8165 


131 


8320 


VI 


210 


9886 


168 


9327 


VII 


146 


11363 


154 


11472 


VIII 


113 


12914 


142 


12627 


IX 


38 


13357 


34 


13659 


X 


45 


15112 


26 


15738 


XI 


41 


14294 


30 


13352 


XII 


21 


15634 


20 


14273 



Average 



892 



10232 



847 



10156 



The girls average 76 words less than the boys, an entirely insigni- 
ficant difference. The boys rank higher in five grades, while the 
girls are higher in the other five. 

The Relation of School Abilities to Range of Vocabulary 
The grades of approximately '1500 pupils were returned on the 
test sheets sent to teachers, about 500 papers being returned with- 
out the grades. For about 200 pupils the grades in average scholar- 
ship and language were given in figures, the remainder being in 
letters or words. It was not expected that the grades in oral ex- 
pression would be very reliable since teachers, generally, pay little 
attention to grading this ability. It was thought, however, that 
the estimates thus secured would aid in discussing the proposition 
that there are many persons who have large vocabularies and are 
still unable to give clear expression to their thoughts. 

Language Grades and Vocabulary Ability. Table III contains a 
summary of the results of the test in the classes in which the lan- 
guage grades were returned in figures. The vocabulary index is 
the number of words correctly used from the 200 word list. The 
coefficient of correlation is represented by r, and was calculated by 
the Pearson formula. The average deviation is indicated by A. D. 













TABLE 


III 














Vocabulary Indices 


Language Grades 




School 


Grade 


No. 
pupils 
26 


Av. 


Highest 


Lowest 


A. D. 


Av. 


Highest 


Lowest 


A. D. 


r. 


X 


IV 


48 


65 


26 


6.1 


83.8 


91 


72 


4.0 


.73 


II 


V 


17 


60.7 


77 


46 


6.6 


80.3 


91 


70 


5.2 


.90 


IX 


VI 


35 


72 


89 


43 


9.7 


83.7 


95 


70 


6.6 


.54 


X 


VI 


20 


59.2 


70 


43.6 


6.8 


79.5 


88 


67 


5.5 


.8b 


VI 


VII 


40 


80.5 


109 


48 


7.8 


80.5 


95 


60 


4.9 


.82 


XI 


VII 


18 


84 


106 


66 


7.7 


85 


95 


70 


6.6 


.66 


I 


VIII 


26 


84 


114 


63 


12.8 


83.4 


91.5 


72 


3.6 


.72 


XV 


x 


21 


110.5 


128 


82 


11.7 


86.5 


95 


70 


5.6 


.81 



PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF LANGUAGE 317 

In this table two features Stand out prominently : (1) The marked 
deviations from the average in vocabulary ability and the absence 
of such deviations in the language grades; (2) the high degree of 
correlation between the two abilities considered. The latter is 
of considerable significance to the teacher since it indicates that 
she could by a vocabulary test estimate the language ability of her 
pupils in an objective and impersonal manner, accurately and easily. 
The fact that all the pupils of a certain group, as for example, Grade 
VIII, School I, are using the same text book, doing the same outside 
reading, are expected to write the same sort of compositions, in 
short, are subject to the same linguistic requirements, when certain 
individuals in the group understand and are capable of using almost 
twice as many different words as are certain others, points strongly 
toward the conclusion that there is something fundamentally in- 
adequate in the basis for the grouping. 

It is somewhat surprising, considering the various factors tending 
to produce abnormal results, which are usually present in giving 
such a test, that the degree of correlation should be so high. The 
lowest coefficient is .54, the highest .90, while the average of the 
eight coefficients is .76. 

Table IV shows the relation between the vocabulary abilities 
and the language grades of 1000 pupils whose grades were given in 
letters or words. 

TABLE IV 



Language 


No. 




Distribution on Basis 


o/ Vocabulary Ability 


grade 


pupils 


Excellent 


Good 


Fair 


Poor 






No. 


% 


No. % 


No. % 


No % 


Excellent 


146 


86 


59 


56 38.3 


4 2.7 





Good 


459 


55 


12 


295 64.3 


94 20.5 


15 3.2 


Fair 


291 


5 


1.7 


100 34.4 


144 49.4 


42 14.4 


Poor 


104 








6 5.8 


43 41.3 


55 52.8 



In order to make clear the method by which these correlations 
were worked out let us consider a group in which the teacher had 
marked 5 pupils E; 22, G; 8, F and 1, P. Assuming this appor- 
tionment for the group, we then divided the class as to vocabulary 
scores in the same proportions. We then find that three of the E 
pupils in language fall within the E division in vocabulary, and two 
in the G group; that 16 of the G pupils in language fall within the 
G group in vocabulary, two in the E group, and four in the F group; 
that three of the F pupils in language fall within the F group in 



318 THE JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

vocabulary, four in the G, and one in the P group; that the one P 
pupil falls in the F group in vocabulary. The scores of the 1000 
pupils were distributed relatively to the grades in this manner. 

The fact that the correlation is higher in the "Excellent" and 
"Good" divisions probably indicates that teachers grade more 
accurately here than in the "Fair" and "Poor" groups. That is, 
they probably tend to raise the grades of fair or poor pupils above 
what they should be. 

Oral Expression and Range of Vocabulary. When the grades in 
oral expression are compared with vocabulary abilities we find about 
the same relationship as existed between language grades and vo- 
cabulary ability. The average tendency of grades in oral expression 









TABLE V 










Oral Expression 


No. 




Distribution on . 


Basis of Vocabulary Ability 


grades 


pupils 


Excellent 


Good 


Fair 


Poor 






No. 


% 


No. 


% 


No. 


% 


No. % 


Excellent 


180 


110 


61.1 


58 


32.2 


12 


6.7 





Good 


418 


62 


14.8 


283 


67.7 


62 


14.8 


11 2.6 


Fair 


260 


7 


2.7 


75 


28.9 


128 


49.2 


50 19.2 


Poor 


142 








7 


4.9 


52 


36.7 


83 58.4 



to fall within their proper or corresponding groups in vocabulary 
ability is seen to be slightly above 59%. It will be noted that no 
pupil who was excellent in vocabulary was poor in oral expression 
and that no pupil who was poor in vocabulary was graded excellent 
in oral expression. Here again we have evidence of the better 
grading by teachers in the "Excellent" and "Good" groups. From 
the material presented here we are forced to the conclusion that 
there are relatively few persons who have large vocabularies and 
are not good in oral expression. The fact that about. 5% of the 
pupils who were marked poor in oral expression are in the good 
division in vocabulary indicates that there probably are such in- 
dividuals. 

Range of Vocabulary and Average Scholarship. The average 
scholarship grades, in most cases, represent the teachers' estimates 
of the quality and quantity of pupils' achievements in all their 
studies except manual training. These grades were given in figures 
for only five classes. It will be noted that the coefficients of cor- 
relation vary from .39 to .85, the average of the five being .63. 



PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF LANGUAGE 



319 



TABLE VI 





Vocabulary Indices 


Average Scholarship Grades 




School 


Grade 


No. 
pupils 


Av. 


Highest 


Lowest 


A. D. 


Av. 


Highest 


Lowest 


A. D. 


r. 


X 


IV 


26 


48.2 


65 


26 


6.1 


81.5 


91 


75 


4.1 


.85 


IX 


VI 


35 


72 


89 


43 


9.7 


80 


90 


65 


6.9 


.60 


XI 


VII 


18 


84 


106 


66 


6.6 


84.7 


95 


70 


5.9 


.64 


VII 


VII 


20 


84.4 


118 


65 


16.3 


79 


84 


74 


1.9 


.39 


XV 


X 


21 


110.5 


128 


82 


11.7 


87 


94 


80 


4.3 


.70 











TABLE 


VII 








Average 






Distribution on Basis of Vocabulary Ability 




Scholarship 


No. of 


Excellent 


Good 




Fair 


Poor 


Grade 


pupils 


No. 


% 


No. 


% 


No. 


% 


No. % 


Excellent 


163 


93 


57 


65 


39.8 


5 


3.1 





Good 


■427 


60 


14 


270 


63.2 


82 


19.2 


15 3.5 


Fair 


277 


10 


3. 


6 82 


29.6 


140 


50.6 


45 16.1 


Poor 


133 








12 


9. 


48 


3.6 


73 55. 



It would seem from Table VII that there is as high a correlation 
between average scholarship and size of vocabulary as there is be- 
tween oral expeession and vocabulary ability. The average per 
cent, of exact correspondence in groups is approximately the same 
in both cases, a little above 56 per cent. 

In view of the above results we may safely say that the opinion 
sometimes ventured, that there are certain individuals who have a 
large fund of words at their command and are very proficient in the 
use of words generally but are mentally weak and inefficient, is 
by no means well founded. The only other alternative is that av- 
erage scholarship grades are not indcative of mental capacity; it 
would be difficult, indeed, to defend such a proposition. 

Manual Training Grades and Range of Vocabulary. The theory 
that motor ability and verbal capacity do not tend strongly to 
coincide is supported by the following table. 











TABLE VIII 








Manual 


No. 




Distribution on 


Basis 


of Vocabulary Ability 


Training 


pupils 


Excellent 


Good 


Fail 




Poor 


Grade 




No. 


/o 


No. 


/o 


No. 


% 


No. % 


Excellent 


66 


23 


34.8 


35 


53 


8 


12.1 





Good 


248 


39 


15.7 


179 


72.2 


20 


8. 


10 4. 


Fair 


70 


4 


5.7 


31 


44.3 


32 


45.7 


3 4.2 


Poor 


36 








6 


16,7 


15 


41.6 


15 41.6 



It will be noted that more of the E pupils in manual training 
come in the G rank in vocabulary than come in the E rank; that 
about as large a percentage of the F pupils in manual training 
come in the G rank in vocabulary as come in the F rank; while 
just as many of the P pupils in manual training come in the F 



320 



THE JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 



group in vocabulary as come in the P group. It is significant, 
however, that no E pupil in manual training is found in the P group 
in vocabulary. 

As a check upon these results a personal study was made of a 
group of 48 high school pupils. After securing the instructor's 
grades upon these pupils in manual training, they were given the 
vocabulary test, and the correlation between the two abilities was 
found to be .21. It was found by inspection of the details that the 
pupil who ranked highest in vocabulary was marked 2% below the 
average in manual training, and that the pupil who ranked lowest 
in vocabulary was graded 5% above the average of his class in 
manual training. On the other hand, all the pupils who had marks 
as low as 60% in manual training were found in the lower half of 
the group in vocabulary ability. 



Difficulties and Errors in the Use of Words 

The list of test words is here given arranged in order of their 
relative difficulty upon the basis of results of the test. 



Orange 


heart 


seek 


direct 


charity 


cup 


hour 


balance 


favor 


reclaim 


penny 


worse 


beetle 


shaft 


unfortunately 


light 


stump 


kernel 


49 psalm 


crinkly 


frog 


grain 


skeleton 


text 


insure 


storm 


report 


* 


revolution 


landman 


week 


roast 


failing 


gill 


lonesomeness 


twenty 


important 


somerset 


partition 


ferry 


flat 


shiny 


39 childhood 


ye 6S 


> bower 


third 


remain 


rate 


hippopotamus 


lubber 


place 


foamy 


labor 


betrayer 


bred 


square 


absent 


diving 


triangle 


inclined 


be 


barehead 


sup 


morsel 


everlastingly 


east 


29 camera 


content 


59 foremost 


vail 


frame 


snuff 


gaily 


crackle 


numbness 


82 downcast 


polygamist 


potent 


circularity 


anastropne 


observation 


picklock 


interposer 


de capo 


epicarp 


inkhorn 


grievance 


municipality 


saline 


papilionaceous 


sycamore 


abate 


complexity 


quayage 


mellifluous 


pavilion 


spawn 


proportionateness unbias 


palestra 


pleurisy 


winebibber 


tiffany 


marline 


arrogate 


discrown 


slightness 


putrid 


tocsin 


apotheosize 


bloat 


phenomenal 


debauch 


preclusive 


embracery 


determination 


messieurs 


rotunda 


transcendentalist 


milt 


spinster 


aquarium 


dissension 


immaterialism 


templet 


copperhead 


centiped 


coequal 


gastronomist 


tump 


external 


restriction 


tactical 


anodyne 


decortication 


savory 


banker 


vestige 


trivet 


homunculus 


buck board 


Finnish 


caprice 


conservancy 


vitrifacture 


surpassing 


misgotten 


proboscis 


comatose 


pretermit 


sickishness 


err 


cosmetic 


carpologist 


deltoid 


92 upholster 


jade 


cajolery 


monetization 


algoid 


reexport 


leniency 


hyperbolical 


tatterdemalion 


stannary 


alternate 


layering 


whitleather 


iridium 


endemical 


dromedary 


abduction 


attainability 


wady 


nereis 


jugular 


deplorably 


binnacle 


malleate 


ryot 


nobby 


venom 


sere 


henna 


magian 


infidel 


overmaster 


scholasticism 


materia medica 


gymnotus 


Olympic 


humanitarian 


effusiveness 


bogle 


acescent 


agate 


subsist 


clearstarch 


autonomic 


adytum 



♦Through an error in printing the word skeleton occurs twice. 



PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF LANGUAGE 321 

The number of words which any grade should know from the Hst 
is found by dividing the average vocabulary of the grade by 140. 
Accordingly grade II should be able to use 29 words; grade III, 39; 
grade IV, 49; grade V, 59; grade VI, 69; grade VII, 82; grade VIII, 
92. 

None of the last 25 words were used correctly by any pupil; that is, 
I2yi per cent, of the words in Webster's Academic Dictionary are 
entirely foreign to high school pupils. There were, naturally, 
many errors made in the attempted use of words which were not due 
to real inability to use the words. The following examples taken 
from the test sheets are suggested as explanatory of such mistakes: 
(1) Those due to imperfect visual imagery; e. g., "They sold the lub- 
ber from the whale," "Psalm trees grow here." (2) Errors due to 
imperfect auditory imagery; e. g., "Our you a boy?" "I will potent 
I am dead. " (3) Errors due partly to both imperfect auditory and 
visual imagery; e. g., "The horse is a cosmetic animal," "I pulled 
the spinster out of my foot." (4) Errors due partly to confused 
auditory and visual imagery, and partly to lack of familiarity with 
the word; e. g., "She made her debauch at the party" "It is an 
autonomic gun. " Of course, there is no hard and fast line between 
these four types of errors. It may seem strange that any errors 
should be due to auditory imagery since the words were not pro- 
nounced to the pupil; but in such cases as the confusion of "our" 
and "are," since there is little similarity in the appearance of the 
two words, it seems probable that the pupil images the sound of 
the word and thus confuses it with a word similar in sound. 

Possible Factors in the Acquisition of a Vocabulary 
Of the two factors operating in a greater or less degree in prac- 
tically all mental processes, native endowment and environment, 
it is generally held that the latter is more important so far as the 
acquisition of a good vocabulary is concerned. 

The most prominent environmental factors are, the home, the 
community, reading facilities, and travel. An effort was made by 
means of a personal study of two groups of children to determine 
what part each of these factors had played. 

Home. It is apparent at the outset that the task of grading homes 
as one grades examination papers is an exceedingly complicated 
one. Each home represented in the first group of children, called 
Group A, was visited in order to arrive at an estimation of the home 



322 THE JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

life on the basis of such characteristics as, occupation of parents, ec- 
onomic status, books and magazines, and general intellectual tone. 
The homes were then graded as "Excellent," "Good," "Fair," 
and "Poor. " Of the 32 homes, 7 were graded E. Two of the seven 
children from these homes had vocabularies at, or below the aver- 
age for the group, while four were in the highest 25 per cent, of the 
group. In 82 per cent, of the cases the correspondence between 
groups was close; that is, the pupils from "Excellent" homes had 
"Excellent" or "Good" vocabularies and those from "Poor" homes 
had "Poor" or only "Fair" vocabularies. In 18% of the cases 
there was entire lack of correspondence. For example, the pupil 
having the third highest vocabulary in the group came from a 
"Fair" home and the pupil who ranked eighth in vocabulary came 
from the poorest home in the whole group. 

With reference to Group B the fact that all but two of the 25 
children were from homes of professors or instructors in the Uni- 
versity is sufficient characterization of the homes from which they 
came. Combining this with the fact that eight of the pupils in 
the group had vocabularies below the average of their respective 
grades, we see that the correspondence here between the character 
of the home and size of vocabulary cannot be close. 

So far as the evidence here goes, it points to the conclusion that, 
while the home is generally an important factor in the acquisition 
of a good vocabulary, it is not in all cases the determining factor. 

Community. With the community, as with the home influence, 
we are dealing with a number of factors instead of with a single one. 
Probably the school is the most important element, for the child, 
of community influence. Since, however, it operates upon all the 
pupils within a grade in a uniform manner, it would tend to eradi- 
cate rather than produce individual differences. The size of the 
community in which pupils lived was investigated in a number of 
cases. It was found that the pupil who ranked highest of all the 
pupils tested, had always lived in a city of several thousand popu- 
lation; while the eighth grade pupil ranking highest of the eighth 
grade pupils had always lived in a small town. This was typical 
of the conditions and relations. In other words, the size of the com- 
munity does not appear to be an important matter so far as vocab- 
ulary is concerned. 

It might be supposed that the general intellectual tone of a com- 
munity would have much to do with a child's vocabulary, but in- 



PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF LANGUAGE 323 

asmuch as there were in Group B, in a highly intellectual community, 
a number of children with inferior vocabularies, it would seem that 
this factor is not, unless in a very general way, significant. 

Reading. It can hardly be doubted that both the quality and 
quantity of a child's reading has much to do with his verbal ability. 
Frequently, in explaining a pupil's remarkable performance in the 
vocabulary test, the teacher would remark that he or she was a 
great reader. Through a study of group B in which the time spent 
in reading, the kind of reading, the reading and the enjoyment in 
reading, were considered, the following facts were ascertained: 

(1) The boys read a greater variety than did the girls. 

(2) The girls read more than did the boys. 

(3) The boys read more humorous material, the girls more light 
fiction. 

(4) No pupil ranked high in vocabulary who was not a great 
reader. 

(5) No pupil ranked high who did not read a variety of literature. 

(6) Some who were great readers ranked low in vocabulary. 

(7) No one ranked low in vocabulary who read a great variety 
of literature. 

It thus appears that there is a close relation between a child's 
reading and his command of words; but it is not so much the quant- 
ity as the quality that counts. 

Travel. The published discussions of childrens' vocabularies 
stress the matter of travel as a productive source of new words. 
Travel is so invariably associated with a good home that it was 
impossible to determine even its approximate effect. It is reason- 
able to suppose that during the early stages of linguistic develop- 
ment, travel is an important agency in enlarging the vocabulary. 
After the child begins to read, however, if he has access to an abund- 
ance of good literature, it is doubtful whether he gains many 
words from travel that he would not get from reading. Yet it is 
not unlikely that his word images become more rounded out, more 
perfectly defined, and more definitely fixed through travel. 

Accuracy in Recognition of Words and Size of Vocabulary. The 
recognition of a word, no doubt, depends largely upon the distinct- 
ness with which the image of the word has been created in the mind; 
hence an individual in whose mind clear and accurate images are 
constantly formed will, other things being equal, build up a vocabu- 
lary faster than one whose mentality does not function so precisely 



324 THE JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

in this respect. In order to test the vahdity of this theory the 
percentage of error in 500 test papers, selected by chance, except 
that boys and girls were equally represented, was calculated. Table 
IX gives the distribution of the 250 boys and 250 girls according 
to the per cent, of error in the use of words. 

TABLE IX 

Less than From 10% to From 25% to Over 49% 

10% of error 24% of error 49% of error of error 

Boys 7.6% 51.6% 40.4% .4% 

Girls 18.4% 51.2% 28.8% 1.6% 

Total 13.0% 51.4% 34.6% 1.0% 

The results here lead one to believe that girls are more accurate 
in the recognition and use of words than are boys. Now if the 
tendency to greater accuracy on the part of girls is a sex trait we 
should expect the girls to have larger vocabularies than the boys. 
We have seen that they do not. The explanation of this is prob- 
ably found in the differences in environmental conditions of boys 
and girls. The boys having a wider range of contact with things, 
persons, and situations, experience a greater number and variety of 
images together with the various verbal symbols of these images. 
At the same time, on account of a greater number and variety, 
they necessarily experience each of these images with its verbal 
symbol a less number of times than they would if they came into 
contact with fewer things and with each thing a greater number of 
times. Hence the images are less accurately fixed and defined. 
This would be true of experience gained in reading as well. We 
have seen that boys read less than do girls, but that they read a 
greater variety of literature; /. e., they come into contact with more 
different words in reading than do the girls, but necessarily with 
each fewer times. Consequently they tend to be more uncertain 
of their words than do the girls. Environmental conditions, then, 
rather than innate qualities, seem adequate to explain the greater 
accuracy of the girls. 

Coefficients of rank correlation between size of vocabulary and 
accuracy in recognition of words were calculated for five groups of 
pupils and the results varied from .18 to .49. The fact that girls 
are more accurate, as is shown in Table IX, and that boys have 
slightly larger vocabularies, as is indicated in Table II, accounts 
for the low degree of correlation. The very fact, however, that 



PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF LANGUAGE , 325 

there is a fair degree of correlation between the two capacities, in 
spite of the influence of environment, tends to substantiate the 
theory that the vocabulary of an individual does depend in a 
considerable degree upon the readiness and accuracy with which he 
forms verbal images. 

General Intelligence and Verbal Ability 

The three views extant, with regard to the relation of thought 
to language are summarized by Professor Dewey (5) thus: "First, 
that they are identical; second, that words are the garb or clothing 
of thought, necessary not for thought but for conveying it; and 
third, that while language is not thought it is necessary for thinking 
as well as for its communication." The first view has had little 
support among eminent thinkers since the time of Miiller. One of 
the foremost advocates of the second is Professor Preyer, who, 
after making an extensive study of the mental development of his 
child, Axel, concluded that the child did not need "words or looks 
or gestures or any symbol whatever in order to arrange in time and 
space the sense of perceptions. " The third view is the one to which 
Professor Dewey subscribes and the one which is most generally 
held. 

One of the first difficulties which confronts one in a discussion 
of the question is the lack of a generally accepted definition and 
understanding of the term, intelligence. Stern's definition, "In- 
telligence is a general capacity of an individual consciously to ad- 
just his thinking to new requirements; it is general mental adapta- 
bility to new problems and conditions of life, " (17, p. 3) is probably 
the most satisfactory statement for the present state of knowledge. 

A second obstacle with which one has to deal is the absence of 
adequate means of measuring intelligence. Since there is no single 
test of intelligence against which serious objections have not been 
raised, it was thought that the most valid results would be secured 
by using a number of tests. The tests were given to the two groups, 
A and B, Group B will be discussed first as the results are more 
complete for it. There were 25 pupils present for all the tests given, 
the others being absent so much that the results were not considered. 
The following table shows the rankings of the pupils in each of the 
tests together with the final rank of each pupil in all the tests. The 
final rank was determined by adding together a pupil's ranks in all 
the tests except the vocabulary test. The smallest sum would then 
represent the highest rank. 



326 



THE JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 









TABLE X 










Knox 


Binet- 


Courtis 


Starch 


Starch 


Final 


Vocabulary 


Healy 


Simon 


Arith. 


Reading 


SpeUing 


Rank 


1 


17 


1 


5 


4 


1 


2 


2 


8 


3 


1 


1 


14 


1 


3 


23 


8 


7 


2 


3 


5 


4 


14 


2 


12 


7 


2 


4 


5 


5 


6 


8 


9 


5 


3 


6 


6 


23 


23 


13 


10 


18 


7 


15 


15 


21 


10 


4 


13 


8 


21 


7 


15 


11 


9 


12 


9 


22 


10 


4 


6 


8 


7 


10 


4 


9 


10 


5 


16 


6 


11 


18 


4 


14 


17 


6 


9 


12 


12 


13 


16 


20 


23 


21 


13 


20 


22 


21 


3 


24 


23 


14 


16 


5 


8 


8 


13 


8 


15 


13 


14 


3 


24 


7 


11 


16 


11 


11 


10 


23 


19 


16 


17 


19 


19 


18 


25 


21 


25 


18 


10 


12 


19 


16 


11 


. 14 


19 


1 


20 


19 


15 


20 


18 


20 


25 


24 


2 


22 


17 


22 


21 


9 


17 


13 


19 


12 


15 


22 


3 


16 


16 


21 


18 


16 


23 


2 


18 


6 


12 


22 


10 


24 


24 


25 


23 


14 


15 


20 


25 


7 


21 


25 


18 


25 


24 



The Knox-Healy* tests consist of a series of form boards, pic- 
tures, blocks, combination locks, jig sawB, etc., designed to test the 
general intelligence of an individual as it functions in observation 
of form and details of a situation, in observation and memory of a 
series of movements, and in general manipulative and motor ability. 
The coefficients of rank correlation between the vocabulary test 
and the other tests were as follows: Binet-Simon, .66, Knox- 
Healy, — .11, Courtis Arithmetic, .36, Starch Reading, ,67, Starch 
Spelling, .69. The coefificient for the vocabulary test and final 
rank is .69, and for average scholarship .59. The fact that there is 
a negative correlation between the Knox-Healy and the vocabulary 
test probably bears out the belief that there is little relation between 
verbal and motor ability. Naturally, the most significant correla- 
tion is that between final rank and vocabulary ability since the 
final rank in intelligence is based upon five, rather than one test. 

Only 20 of the 25 in the second group were present for a sufficient 



*This test was applied by Mr. Clifford Granger, a graduate student in Professor 
O'Shea's seminary in Education, and to him the author is indebted for the results. 



PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF LANGUAGE 



327 



number of the tests to make their results worth using, and a number 
of these were not present for all the tests.* It thus happens that 
the final ranks for a few had to be determined upon the basis of 
three or four different tests. The rank for each pupil in the Courtis 
tests is his rank in the four tests in the fundamentals. The "A" 
test was given once a week for a period of eight weeks and the rank 
is indicative of the rate of improvement during the period. The 
two composition tests were given to discover the range of words 
for each pupil in writing a fifteen minute composition on a familiar 
topic. In the association test twenty simple words were pronounced 
at intervals of one minute, the pupil writing down during the time 
all the words which came to his mind. His rank depends upon the 
number of different words which he wrote. 

The coefficient of rank correlation between the vocabulary test 
and the final ranks in Table XI is .60. It is not felt that this coeffic- 
ient is so significant as was the corresponding one in the former 
group since the tests are predominantly verbal tests. 



TABLE XI 





c 


c 
















o 


o 
















'w 


■55 






G 


c 






>. 


c 


c 


^ 




.0 


_o 


c 




o 

o 
> 




T3 0. 03 


■B s 

u < 


CD 





'cri 

-a 


.0 
'0 


2 


cj.S 


c/) U .S 


< 


.b 
fc 




< ^ 




1 


1 


2 




2 


4 


1 




1 


2 






17 






8 


4 


12 


3 


2 


4 


4 


1 


7 


5 


5 


3 


4 


15 


11 


18 


5 






8 


16 


5 


5 


7 


8 




5 


6 


5 


5 


6 


10 


12 


15 








3 


13 


7 


5 


3 


2 


7 




2 


2 


2 


8 


4 


1 


13 


11 




17 


1 


7 


9 


2 


8 


3 




6 


3 




4 


10 


7 


5 


6 




11 


7 


12 


9 


11 






10 


3 


8 


10 


9 


8 


12 


12 


10 


1 


4 


1 


14 


7 


6 


13 


16 


15 


9 






13 




20 


14 


13 


16 


6 


10 


12 


9 


11 


14 


15 






15 


9 


10 


16 


10 


17 


16 


8 


13 


10 


6 


2 


11 


14 


11 


17 


19 


13 




8 


3 


12 


13 


15. 


18 






4 




9 


4 


15 


10 


19 


14 


9 


12 


12 


13 


15 


16 


19 


20 


10 


5 


13 




14 


18 




18 



*For the privilege of making the studies of this group, as well as for some of the 
material here used, the author is indebted to Professor V. A. C. Henmon. 



328 THE JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

It is now possible to make a sort of survey of the whole study and 
note some of the prominent indications. It has been shown that 
there is a large degree of correlation between a pupil's ability in 
oral expression and his vocabulary ability. It frequently happens 
that a child who is quiet and reserved does not get credit for a 
good vocabulary when he possesses one, while the child who talks 
freely is rated by the casual observer as a better linguist than the 
former though he may have a meager fund of words. In Group A, 
for example, the pupil ranking 19 in vocabulary is an incessant 
talker, but the number of words used in a given time, either in 
speaking or writing, is relatively small. Moreover, her expression, 
when carefully analyzed, is neither meaningful nor elegant. In 
Group B the pupil who ranks tenth in vocabulary is also of this 
type. The teacher experiences continual difficulty in keeping him 
from talking constantly in the recitation; while the pupil who ranks 
first in vocabulary is quiet, reserved and reflective. In speaking, 
the former is impulsive, inaccurate and inelegant while the latter 
is accurate, careful and discriminating. 

With written expression the case is fairly similar. A number of 
regular school compositions from Group B were examined and, with 
very few exceptions, in which the deviations were not large, it was 
found that the pupils ranking high in vocabulary expressed their 
thoughts in more and better chosen words than did those whose 
vocabularies were below the average. 

The main question with relation to the correspondence between 
language ability and average scholarship grades is, in what degree 
are average scholarship grades indicative of general intelligence? 
Some psychologists maintain that school performance is to no ex- 
tent, or at least only to a very small extent, indicative of intelli- 
gence. Naturally, it cannot be affirmed that school grades are 
absolute and accurate measures of intelligence. The fact that 
practically all mental tests agree in indicating much greater indi- 
vidual differences than school grades show, is good evidence that 
school grades are not finely discriminating. This fact, however, 
does not mean that school activities do not test intelligence, nor 
that school grades are not, on the whole, indicative of mental cap- 
acity. School grades are to some extent determined by matters 
of expediency and economy in school administration and organiza- 
tion ; but the statement so often made, that regular school activities 
are too narrow to test the various phases of the child's mental 



PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF LANGUAGE 329 

capacity, lacks verification under present day school conditions. 
The facts already established by this investigation, of the high 
correlation between size of vocabulary and average school grades 
on the one hand, and between size of vocabulary and various mental 
tests on the other, tend to substantiate the assertion that average 
scholarship grades are indicative of general intelligence. 

Now if this is established, it follows that the size of one's vocabul- 
ary under normal conditions is also a fairly accurate measure of his 
general mental capacity. This conclusion is supported by the re- 
sults of studies of groups A and B, where it is found that, if several 
types of tests are given and the estimates of intelligence based upon 
the results, there is a good correlation between these results and 
verbal ability. 

What, then may we conclude as to the exact relation between 
language and thought? We have referred to Preyer, who contends 
that the child shows evidence, through various activities, of exten- 
sive thought processes or deliberation before he acquires the use of 
language. As opposed to this view, it has been shown by Morgan 
(11) that animals often carry on activities which apparently imply 
just as complex thought processes as are necessarily connected with 
the cases cited by Preyer. Is it not then probable that whatever 
mental activities the child performs before he learns the use of 
language are precisely comparable to those which are common to 
the higher types of animals? Morgan says, "Language, and the 
analytical faculty it renders possible, differentiates man from the 
brute" (11, p. 374). Baldwin makes a similar statement when he 
says that with the getting of concepts "as opposed to the recepts 
of the animals . . . goes the development of speech, which 
some psychologists consider the source of all man's superiority over 
the animals" (1, p. 42). It cannot be doubted that animals have 
extensive processes of imagery and associations, but it is also true 
that there is a distinct difference between them and the mental 
processes of a rational human mind. Now this difference seems to 
be due to the capacity of the human mind for generalization, a 
capacity which is quite dependent upon symbols. And just to the 
extent to which these symbols make generalization possible, will 
this generalization be able to extend itself. Evidently then, the 
degree of intelligence which an ordinary person would manifest in 
consciously thinking out his reaction to any given stimulus, depends 
upon just how extensively the process of generalization has been 



330 THE JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

carried out. Without language, which is a highly refined system of 
symbolism, the generalizing process certainly cannot proceed. The 
child before learning to use words, and to some extent man through- 
out life, carries on the same sort of deliberation that the lower 
animals do, that of a very simple, direct, and concrete association. 
After he begins to learn words and, in fact, coincident with the word 
learning process, comes the conceptual activity. Morgan would 
even deny the child mind without language real percepts, preferring 
the term "mental products of a perceptual order." It is, however, 
quite certain that he does not account for the difference between 
child mind and brute mind which is apparent before the child begins 
to use language directly, that is, the manifest tendency of the child 
mind to generalization of experience, shown in anticipatory conduct. 
This is pointed out by Baldwin. This anticipatory conduct, which 
is the process or tendency of the mind in predicting results or acts 
through apperception, simply implies the indirect use of the language 
the child hears in organizing his own experience before he is able to 
make the speech organs function properly. This, then, leads to 
the conclusion that a "vague and confused" sort of generalization 
is taking place in the child mind before he uses language in a direct 
manner; whence it becomes perfectly clear that speech and thought 
are developing side by side in the child, each aiding and reenforcing 
the other. Just this lack of the indirect speech element is what 
seems to distinguish the brute mind from the human mind with- 
out language. 

Now it seems perfectly rational, to repeat our former statement, 
that in any individual intelligence is conditioned by the extent to 
which he has carried out the generalizing of his experience, the 
building up of his conceptual order, which is, as we have just seen, 
almost wholly dependent upon the degree in which he is able to 
use highly refined symbolism. We may say, then, that language 
becomes a kind of filing case in which experience is sorted out, clas- 
sified, and organized, and that without it, mental associations 
must remain of a primitive, direct, and simple type. 

Pedagogical Aspects 

From a number of investigations (6, p. 117; 2; 3) it has been 
determined that normal children from three to five years of age 
utter", under ordinary circumstances, from 1000 to 1400 words per 
hour during the entire day. In the author's study of child language 



PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS OF LANGUAGE 331 

this has been verified both in the case of a three-year-old child and 
in that of one four and one-half years. In this particular study it 
was also found that the child of four and a half years, if allowed 
perfect freedom in talking, was not linguistically inactive for a 
period exceeding three minutes at any one time during the entire 
day. From the very nature of our present school system such 
freedom and continuity of oral expression is impossible, even if 
desirable. To discover in what degree children in the school room 
do have opportunity for oral expression and what the character of 
the expression is, the author spent 70 hours observing this phase of 
language work in the various grades. In a fourth grade, where 15 
hours were spent, the highest number of words spoken per hour by 
pupils was 992, the lowest 416, and the average 705. The average 
number of pupils present during the time was 25. These words 
include words uttered in oral reading, although periods were chosen 
in which there was comparatively little of this. Ten periods were 
spent in kindergarten or primary grades with similar results as to 
number of words spoken; the remainder of the time was spent in 
the upper grades. In all grades under normal conditions the rate 
of speaking for hour periods seemed to be about the same as that 
given above. In the upper grades, naturally, there were longer 
periods of silence and the rate of speaking by pupils was at times 
much greater. It seems obvious that the number of words spoken 
by pupils cannot greatly exceed these estimates since the teacher 
generally talks at least one-half the time. Now if the number of 
words spoken per hour, as indicated here, be divided by 25, the 
number of pupils in the room, it is seen that the average for each 
pupil is, at most not over 40 words per hour. What happens is, 
of course, that a few pupils talk a great deal while several say little 
or nothing. The question at once arises, if there is an expressive 
instinct, or a natural tendency to expression which prompts the 
child to tell his experiences to his associates, to respond verbally to 
all sorts of stimuli continually, to what extent may the school 
without danger repress this tendency. Teachers often ask why 
pupils become timid at a certain period and reluctant to get up and 
speak or recite. The explanation appears to be found largely in 
this continual repression of the natural impulse to communication. 
The timidity does not appear suddenly or at any definite period 
but is the result of a gradual growth which is fostered and nourished 
from the day the child enters school. The child is reproved re- 



332 THE JOURNAL OF EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY 

peatedly because he speaks either to the teacher or to other pupils 
without permission and finally he often comes to associate a feeling 
of timidity with speaking in school. In many cases this association 
is built up to such an extent that there is a distinct feeling of un- 
pleasantness, even of dread, upon the part of the pupil upon hear- 
ing his name called in recitation. Some repression is undoubtedly 
beneficial; pupils must learn to listen attentively as well as to 
speak accurately; they must learn that others have a right to be 
heard. Nevertheless, it can hardly be doubted that the process 
through which pupils are compelled to inhibit this social tendency 
should be a more gradual one and it is very doubtful if it should 
ever be carried so far as it is in the present school system. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

1. Baldwin, J. M. The Story of the Mind. 

2. Bell, Sanford. Independent, 1903. Vol. 55, pp. 911-914. 

3. Brandenburg, G. C. Ped. Sem. March, 1915. 89-120. 

4. Chubb, Percival. The Teaching of English. 

5. Dewey, J. How We Think. 

6. Gale, I. M. C. & H. Psych. Studies, No. 1, July 1900. 

7. Kirkpatrick, E. A. Pop. Sci. Mo. 1907, Vol. 70, pp. 157-164. 

8. Knox, H. Scientific American, Jan. 9, 1915. 

9. McMuRRY, Charles. Special Method in Language. 

10. Meyer. The Fundamental Laws of Human Behavior. 

11. Morgan, Lloyd. Animal Life and Intelligence. 

12. Muller, F. M. The Science of Language. 

13. Myers. Experimental Psychology. Parts I & II. (On Methods of Correlation) 

14. O'Shea, M. V. Linguistic Development and Education. 

15. Preyer, W. Infant Mind. 

16. Schadel, E. Das Spree henlernen unserer Kinder. 

17. Stern, W. The Psychological Methods of Testing Intelligence. 

18. Thorndike, E. L. Mental and Social Measurements. 

19. Wundt, W. Outlines of Psychology. 

20. Wundt, W. Human and Animal Psychology. 



• >-. 




.ISB^ 



H/8' 



